


All I Have

by forestfantail



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Pancakes, Perthshire Cottage (Marvel), Post Season 7, Sleepiness
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-26
Updated: 2020-07-26
Packaged: 2021-03-05 18:54:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,381
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25520188
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/forestfantail/pseuds/forestfantail
Summary: It's harder to be the ones left behind.Or: After the events of early season 7, Jemma comes back to the Perthshire cottage where Fitz has been caring for their daughter. Jemma tries to find her place with a daughter she loves but barely knows.
Relationships: Leo Fitz/Jemma Simmons
Comments: 9
Kudos: 54





	All I Have

**Author's Note:**

> Oneshot in an AU where everything works out perfectly in season 7, the team is still together and back to the Lighthouse, and Fitz and Simmons are getting to live out their days in their dream cottage.

Jemma woke up feeling warm arms wrapped around her and a soft breath on the back of her neck. She wiggled a little.

“Fitz?” she said. When he didn’t respond, she flipped over and placed a kiss to his temple. “Fitz.”

“Mmmm,” he said. He tried to bury his face under her chin and held her tighter.

“It’s morning,” she said.

“Mmsleep,” he said, and he pulled the covers over his face.

Jemma laughed and stroked the back of his neck under the blanket. “What would you like for breakfast? I could make pancakes.”

Fitz made some indecipherable and grumpy noises under the covers.

“I could add bananas to some of them,” she said.

He sighed and pulled the blanket off his head. “Why are you so happy?”

“Because I get to wake up next to you.”

He shook his head and snuggled back into her. “Sleep,” he said.

“Love you,” she whispered.

“Muv moo,” he said, his face pressed into her shoulder.

A child’s cry broke the calm quiet of the cottage. “Daddy? Daddy!”

Fitz lifted himself off her, but Jemma sat up. “I’ll go,” she said.

“No, this one’s for me.”

“I’ll go,” she said, a smile on her face. “Please, I haven’t been able to.”

Fitz was yawning and stretching on the edge of the bed, trying to open his eyes. “No, it’s fine Jemma.”

She was already up and walking out the door of their bedroom. She loved mornings. She always had her best ideas in the morning. There was opportunity in the start of a day. She liked to have her tea, have a run, clear her head.

Her husband was many wonderful things, but a morning person was not one of them. He was always such a grouch when he first woke up, and he wasn’t capable of conversation until after he had eaten. She didn’t mind, though. She loved to take care of him, loved to be needed by him. It made her feel essential. Did she have control issues? Certainly. But did their relationship work? Absolutely. It was effortless. They were, in the mornings as in all other ways, a perfect team.

And now she could fit into her role as wife and mother in their tiny cottage in the Scottish countryside. She could be the one to take the child while Fitz slept, the one to take care of them both when they needed her. She was eager to make up for all that she had missed.

She walked down the narrow hallway to their daughter’s room. The girl was sitting in bed crying. “Daddy,” she said, desperate and loud. “Daddy.”

Jemma started to grab her up, but the girl looked at her with wide eyes and recoiled. She screamed. “No! Daddy. No.”

Jemma drew her hands back just as Fitz moved past her. The girl stretched out her arms, and he pulled her to him. “Bad dream?” he said.

“Coming to take me away,” was all Jemma could make out of the girl’s tearful mumblings into her father’s chest, but Fitz nodded.

“I know,” he said. “It’s all right now.” He lifted her and walked past Jemma, saying “Don’t worry, Jemma. I’ve got this one.”

Jemma stood still in the nursery, watching him carry their child out the door. The girl was still crying and making sounds Jemma couldn’t understand, but Fitz talked to her softly and calmly, like he understood every word.

Jemma heard them disappear down the hall. She looked around the room, uncertain what to do. She made the girl’s tiny bed and tidied up a few errant books and toys. She couldn’t hear them anymore, so she walked back down the hallway to their bedroom.

Fitz was back in their bed, the tiny girl sprawled across his chest. She had the front of his white t-shirt gripped in her little fist. They both appeared to be asleep again, already.

Fitz always woke slowly but fell asleep the moment his head hit the pillow. That was her husband. Perhaps their daughter took after him in this regard? Jemma didn’t know.

She stopped watching them and decided to head downstairs to the kitchen. Whenever they woke, they would need pancakes.

xxx

By the time Fitz got up and took his daughter to the restroom, the S.H.I.E.L.D. team was already downstairs. They had dropped Jemma off at the cottage in the middle of the night a few days ago, before they’d gotten themselves arranged at the Lighthouse, because Jemma just couldn’t wait to see her family.

“Mack,” Fitz said as he reached the bottom of the stairs. The big man was standing just inside their front doorway, and he seemed to dwarf their tiny living room.

“Turbo,” he said, clapping Fitz on the shoulder.

“Mack,” said a high voice from Fitz’s arms. The girl had her hand outstretched. “Nice to meet you,” she said. “My daddy has told me many stories about you.”

Mack masked his surprise and shook her tiny hand. “Nice to meet you.” His smile stretched for miles. “I hope those were good stories.”

“They were,” said the girl. “One of them involved you chopping off a man’s hand.”

“OK,” said Fitz, placing the girl on the floor. “Why don’t you go introduce yourself to everyone?” He looked at Mack, who was wearing an amused smile. “She likes to talk about dissections,” he said, by way of explanation.

Mack shrugged. “I wouldn’t expect any less from a Fitzsimmons baby.”

The other team members were shaking her hand, and even May seemed charmed.

“Oh my god, you’re like a mini-Simmons,” Daisy said.

The girl did have Jemma’s dark hair and eyes. It was one of the things Fitz loved about her.

“I am my own person, thank you,” said the girl.

“OK, but that’s exactly what a mini-Simmons would say,” said Daisy.

The little girl shook her head at her and walked toward the kitchen. “Daddy, I need my breakfast,” she called.

Fitz followed her, smiling at the team as he passed.

“She is so cute!” said Daisy.

“I heard that,” said the girl. Fitz chuckled at their expressions; he knew she was a handful. For a three-year-old she was bright and saucy. These were also things he loved about her. There really wasn’t a thing he didn’t love about her.

In the kitchen Fitz served his daughter pancakes that Jemma must have made. He hadn’t seen his wife downstairs.

“What are these?” asked the girl, staring at her plate.

“Pancakes,” he said. “With bananas. Your mum made them.”

The girl wrinkled her nose. “I eat my O’s,” she said.

“I know, but this morning your mum has made lovely—”

“I eat my O’s,” she said. “And then I have my milk.” She glared at him, her little forehead scrunching. “And then you read me my story, and then we go work in the lab.”

Fitz pulled the box of cereal down from the top of the fridge. “We’re not going to work in the lab today, love. We’ve got company.”

“I don’t want company,” she said.

“Hey, that’s not nice,” said Daisy. She and the rest of the team were trying to crowd into the cottage’s tiny kitchen. Mack, Yo-Yo, and May sat at the small table with the child.

“We can be pretty fun,” said Yo-Yo.

“Are you the one with the prosthetic arms?” asked the girl.

“Don’t ask her—sorry,” said Fitz to Yo-Yo. “She’s curious.”

Yo-Yo smiled and held her hand out to the girl, who poked it with her finger. “It’s all right,” said Yo-Yo. “She’s adorable.” She brought her face near the girl’s. “And I can run really, really fast, too.”

“Are you faster than a cheetah? They’re the fastest land mammal.”

“Faster,” said Yo-Yo. The girl’s eyes went wide.

Fitz had swapped her plate with a plate of cereal, and he was now eating her pancakes. “Where’s Jemma?” he asked.

“She’s out showing Deke the lab in your barn.” Daisy was picking at a pancake with her fingers. “Pretty sweet setup you got there.”

“Daddy designed it himself,” said the girl. “He’s the best scientist ever.”

The team all looked at Fitz with raised eyebrows. “What? I didn’t teach her to say that; she reached her own conclusions.” He turned to his daughter. “And remember, science is not a competition,” he said.

“We’re just here to get the specs on those designs you’ve been working on,” said Daisy. “Plus meet this little nugget.” She smiled at the girl, who frowned back at her.

“I’m not a nugget; I am a girl.”

Daisy shook her head. “It’s uncanny,” she said. “Did she get _anything_ from you? I mean, besides the ego?”

Fitz smiled around a mouthful of pancake. “When I was this age, I was so shy I would barely speak. This is all Jemma.”

“Are you taking her with you?” asked the girl.

Everyone stopped talking or eating their pancakes and looked at her.

“Jemma?” she said. “Are you taking her away again?”

“No,” said May, leaning over to touch the girl’s shoulder. “No one’s taking your mommy away again.”

“You could,” she said, and she resumed stuffing her mouth with O’s. “We don’t need her.”

Fitz cleared his throat to cover the awkward silence. “That’s not true, sweetie. We love your mum very much.”

“She left us,” she said. “She left Daddy, and he was sad.”

“We’ve talked about this,” said Fitz. “She had to leave. But she came back. And now I’m not sad; I’m happy.”

The girl sniffed. “I love you the most,” she said. “More than anything.”

“I love you too,” he said. “And I love your mum as well.”

“More than anything,” she repeated.

“OK,” said Mack, standing up. “Maybe we should get those plans and get out of your hair. Let you all have some time.”

Fitz and Mack joined Deke and Jemma in the lab, where he showed them the plans. The others watched his daughter in the cottage.

“Don’t let her cut up any of her dolls,” he said as he left.

When they rejoined the team in the living room, the girl was just finishing up a presentation.

“She explained thermodynamics to us,” said Daisy.

“The laws?” asked Deke, giving the girl a high five.

“No, I think maybe all—all of thermodynamics.” Daisy looked confused. “Also something about cow stomachs?”

“Yeah,” said Fitz. “She wants us to go vegetarian.”

“The science suggests a plant-based diet is healthier and more sustainable,” said the girl between giggles. Deke was holding her upside down by her legs.

“But your father likes his prosciutto sandwiches,” said Jemma, rubbing Fitz’s back with her hand.

The girl stuck her tongue out at Jemma and giggled some more. “He likes me better,” she said.

The team stayed the rest of the morning and afternoon. None of them seemed eager to leave, and Fitz didn’t want them to. He laid his daughter down for a nap (Deke played catch with her in the yard until she had no energy left). On his way downstairs he overheard Jemma speaking to the other women.

“I think we all just need time to adjust.”

“It can’t be easy for her,” Daisy said. “Absent parent stuff can be tricky, believe me.”

“She’ll come around, though,” said Yo-Yo. “She has to. She’s just like you.”

“She’s like your clone,” said Daisy. “Wait—you didn’t actually clone yourself, did you?”

Jemma laughed. “No. She’s got a lot of Fitz in her too.”

“She’s obsessed with him.”

Jemma smiled at Fitz as he walked into the room. “That she gets from me.”

xxx

When the team did finally leave, Jemma was sad but also ready for some quiet. The tiny house wasn’t built for such a large group. She’d have to rearrange the furniture for their next visit in a couple weeks.

Fitz laid down on the couch, his head in Jemma’s lap. She ran her fingers through his hair. “Sleepy?” she asked.

He sighed. “Exhausted. It’s been just me and her for so long; I’m not used to a crowd. Loved every minute though.”

“Maybe we can set some furniture outside, and stock up on beer for next time?”

“Was already thinking that.”

She leaned down to kiss his earlobe. “Great minds,” she said.

They heard a cry from upstairs. Their daughter was awake.

Fitz started to get up, but this time Jemma pushed him gently back down. “Let me talk to her, Fitz.”

She stood and walked toward the stairs. “If you need me,” he called out.

“I know you’ll always be there,” she said. She smiled at him. God, she loved this man. And she loved her daughter. And they were going to be a family.

She found the girl in her bed, crying softly. “Daddy?” she asked.

“No, love, it’s me. Your mum.”

The girl wiped her cheek with a grubby hand. “I want Daddy.”

Jemma sat on the edge of the bed and pushed the girls damp hair from her forehead. “Did you have a bad dream?”

The girl nodded. Jemma’s daughter. She had never loved a person more than she loved this girl. Not even Fitz. And Jemma had moved heaven and earth for her Fitz.

“Took him away,” she said, so softly Jemma almost couldn’t hear her.

“Someone took your daddy away?”

The girl nodded again, and two fresh tears ran down her cheeks.

“You know no one’s ever going to take him away, right? I won’t let them.”

The girl looked up at her. “He’s mine,” she said.

Jemma wiped the girl’s tears with the back of her hand. “You know I’m not going to steal him away either. Don’t you?”

The girl looked away from her. “I don’t know,” she said. “I don’t know you.”

Jemma took a deep breath. “You know how much you love your daddy?” she asked. The girl nodded. “I love him that much. And I love you that much too.”

The girl looked at her again. She seemed to be searching Jemma’s face for something. She didn’t believe her. But she would.

“He’s all I have,” said the girl.

Jemma wrapped her arms around her and pulled her to her chest. “Not anymore,” she said. “Not anymore.”

**Author's Note:**

> I decided not to choose a side in the Diana or not Diana name game, so I didn't name the daughter here. Hope it's not too distracting. 
> 
> Also, I think Fitz and Simmons are hiding something much bigger than a daughter in season 7, but I want them to have a daughter, so whatever.


End file.
